Over The Weekend: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. at Dada

Better than: making a left turn, and then a left turn, and then a left turn...

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

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It speaks to the power of the Internet/new music business model when a band with only four officially-released tracks is able to embark on a headlining cross-country tour.

But that's just what Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. was able to do at Dada on Friday night -- and to a decently sized crowd no less.

It helps, of course, when the band's name alone is quirky and engaging enough to suck in passersby.

Local hip-hop artist galleryCat admitted as much when I ran into him on
Dada's patio: He hadn't heard a single note of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.'s music
beforehand, but was compelled to check them out based on name alone.

If this was the case for a majority of the room, then those in
attendance got more than their money's worth. With bubble machines,
strobe lights, matching suits and giant wooden, lighted Js and Rs
propped up across the stage -- all triggered with foot pedals operated by the band members -- the
stage setup at Dada felt like that of a much a larger room, perhaps one the size
of a Granada Theater.

Being two weeks away still from the release of the
band's debut full-length, the crowd seemed appreciative-yet-unfamiliar
with most of the night's material. Lone exceptions were, unsurprisingly, the
four songs from the group's Horse Power EP (including their almost
shoe-gazey cover of the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows," which also might
have been the most popular tune of the night) and a cover of Gil
Scott-Heron's "We Almost Lost Detroit," which the Detroit natives performed in honor
of the spoken word performer's passing earlier in the day.

As expected from a band with so little material released, though, the set felt
somewhat short. But perhaps Josh Epstein's constant switching between
guitar, bass, keyboards, tom drum and saxophone, mixed with the duo's
focus on persistent, tight harmonies just made it feel that way.

The
night ended with a perfectly fitting encore, too: After playing seemingly
everything they knew the band knew they said "goodnight" and quickly
jumped offstage. The crowd began unison chants of "One more song! One
more song!" as Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. begrudgingly took the stage and
offered to play one last number, but only if the audience agreed to dance
their asses off. As the group burst into a gorgeous cover of Steve
Winwood's "Higher Love," the entire place went nuts, with more folks
dancing than any other point in the night.

Critic's Notebook
Random Note: Esptein said the group had been keeping up
with the NBA playoffs and were going to be rooting for the Mavericks in
the finals, before adding, "Fuck Lebron so hard" to further drive the point
home.

By The Way: Curly-haired Dale Jr. Jr. member Daniel Zott is a dead
ringer for 30 Rock actor Judah Frielander -- especially with his hipster
glasses and trucker hat on.

Random Note: Another high point in the night came when Esptein joined opening band Generationals onstage, playing saxophone on their
song "When They Fight They Fight" while wearing his Nesquick NASCAR
jacket.